I remember when I first discovered an 1851 Canadian census record while looking for my McBride line. My 3rd great-grandfather and his family had lived in Northern Ireland and had immigrated to the New Brunswick, Canada area in 1836. I was definitely very impressed at seeing their names in that census record that dated back about 175 years ago. My 2nd great grandfather, John McBride, got married to his wife Louisa Clendinin in New Brunswick. Canada. It was an interesting experience to find she and her family a couple of census pages before John's family. They were neighbors just down the country road from each other.

There often is a fair amount of information in census records that give you a little insight into their life. Common items in the records included things such as the household members, ages, occupation, place where born, places where parents were born, address of their current residence, and more. Over the years, the types of items changed somewhat. Other variable items included in some census also included how long the couple were married, the number of children (living and dead), and more. Census records can become like photo images, or snapshots of information at different time periods of a family's life.

With that kind of information and following the family every 10 years, you can begin to better understand the family's story and the challenges they may have had. What about a child listed as 2 years old in 1860 and then in 1870 is no longer listed with the family? Chances are that the child died sometime between census records. You may notice that a great great grandfather had a farm in Ohio in 1870, and then in 1880, he is now listed as a laborer. Did he lose his farm? By following the family through census records, you can begin to gets hints and questions about their life experiences.

If you would like to read a Wikipedia article on the history of the US Census, click HERE.

If you would like to learn more about census records, click HERE.